I am a long time lurker, first time poster. I understand that many people simply dismiss TSS score and some people live breath and die by it. As a newcomer to power training but having a somewhat in-depth conceptual understanding, just curious if anyone has really tracked this through the course of IM prep?
To my understanding, correct me if I am wrong, the magic number to be able to recover by the next day is rides <150 TSS. To account for the stress of run, swim, and an odd strength session here and there maybe a little bit lower for a triathlete. Regardless your TSS per week should stay relatively constant throughout an IM prep plan right? (Take out the recovery weeks.) Put another way, your FTP increases throughout your lead in, assuming you “recalibrate” throughout the plan, but adding longer and longer rides at lower or equal intensity (1/2 IM and IM pace) shouldn’t throw off the TSS total per week that much right? Obviously, accounting for your race prep days that should be over 150 TSS anyways…
I don’t live breath and die by TSS score, but I do track it. And I just happened to have my power spreadsheet open when I saw your post…
Don’t kown if it helps, but here are my numbers for a 16 week period leading to a race last year (not IM, but similar distance).
TSS per week - 320 (16 wks average)
Max TSS per week - 510
Min TSS per week - 230
Ave. bike time per week - 5.3 hrs (16 wks average)
FYI, my average weekly total training time for the same period was just above 11 hrs (16 wks average). Probably not a very high number from an IM training perspective, but that was all I could afford… Besides, the race results and placing were satisfactory so I’m not changing anything this year in terms of bike training - maybe increasing run load if time permits.
Regarding your stament
To my understanding, correct me if I am wrong, the magic number to be able to recover by the next day is rides <150 TSS.
I think the best answer is “it depends” and the stress scores from other activities must be considered.
I used the Performance Management Chart and TSS to train for two IM races in 2012. My TSS/week increased most weeks until my final block of training (~6 weeks) before each race when it leveled off. In the 2nd edition of Training and Racing with a Power Meter, Allen and Coggan recommend looking at TSS for each sport individually, so I run separate Performance Management Charts for bike and run (don’t track TSS for swimming).
Recovery after 150+ TSS rides is pretty individual because most weeks I was able to put out a solid ride the day after my long ride. I would do 3 rides/week looking for 500+ TSS across those three days. Typically that broke down to ~100 from a mid week ride, 250+ from a long Saturday ride, and 150+ from a Sunday ride. My peak bike CTL prior to my taper was ~70.
Splitting the 3 up is what I was thinking. This actually makes more sense in terms of being on “form” which is the real reason I asked the question. If you combine and track all three “TSS” in one number its really only tracking stress on the body. But running your TSS separately for all three disciplines seems like the best way to reach your best form in terms of the individual sports.
With that in mind and assuming a traditional Ironman plan, are we looking at roughly 1000 TSS combined (all three sports) for a week as the higher ceiling?
Thanks for the input guys I really appreciate the help. I am racing two IM distance races this year (8 weeks apart) and am fascinated by the numbers. In all honesty I don’t think the numbers are the be all end all of anything, but tracking does seem to help keep you on track and motivated to hit workouts.
Disclaimer: I don’t do IM, just the HIM distance and below but I train as much as I’m capable of.
Between my bike and run my upper end is ~1000. I cannot go much more than 3-4 weeks at a time with that much volume. I have done many weeks at 800-900.
While I don’t have my charts in front of me but I think when I’m riding a lot it’s about 60% bike and 40% run. Right now I’m the other way ~60% run and 40% bike, maybe a little more on the run. I don’t track the swim TSS
I was getting ~1000 TSS from running and cycling–swimming was on top of that. I would be careful about setting TSS goals though. 1000 bike+run TSS/week was where I ended up after building up to it over the course of a season. My priority was to have a steadily building CTL, and it just so happened that I ended up at 1000 bike+run TSS/week. Depending on where you are now and when your race is, that might not be realistic. Of course, it also may be possible that you can handle an even higher training load.
I had 13 weeks between my two IM races. It took me about 4 weeks to recover completely from the first one, then I spent 7 weeks working hard trying to rebuild fitness before a two week taper. It’s hard for me to judge my second taper because I rolled my ankle pretty badly 4 days out from the race, but with only 8 weeks between races, you’re going to have to do things slightly differently than I did.
To my understanding, correct me if I am wrong, the magic number to be able to recover by the next day is rides <150 TSS.
You are wrong.
3 hours is 150TSS at 75% FTP. Those are rides the club riders used to do on Tue and Thur. On the weekends they went out for 6 hours - 300TSS, a day. Noone complained that the rides were hard or they could not recover for the next day.
On the other hand, you can do 100% FTP for 90 minutes a day - 2 45 minute sessions, and perhaps beat yourself up.
That is why TSS is worthless.
I am old and I do 170TSS on my easy 3 hour days - 75-80% FTP. If I did not have other things to do I could do 170TSS everyday.
sub 150 TSS per day in hopes of recovering in a fine ballpark, but no one can speak for everyone and declare that someone will or will not be recovered after a certain TSS day. We’re all going to recover at different rates, given many differ factors. Just gonna take some figuring out to get it dialed.
To my understanding, correct me if I am wrong, the magic number to be able to recover by the next day is rides <150 TSS.
You are wrong.
3 hours is 150TSS at 75% FTP. Those are rides the club riders used to do on Tue and Thur. On the weekends they went out for 6 hours - 300TSS, a day. Noone complained that the rides were hard or they could not recover for the next day.
On the other hand, you can do 100% FTP for 90 minutes a day - 2 45 minute sessions, and perhaps beat yourself up.
That is why TSS is worthless.
I am old and I do 170TSS on my easy 3 hour days - 75-80% FTP. If I did not have other things to do I could do 170TSS everyday.
According to Hunter Allen, the best riders in the world with unlimited time can hold a CTL of 150-160 for 6 to 8 months at a time so maybe you are exaggerating.
Haha, I must say I planned on hearing some people hate on the TSS system and I love the ‘old school’ attitude. I totally think numbers are not the be all and end all. But at least it is a gauge for planning purposes.
Your club riders didn’t throw too many 15+ mile runs in either…
I thought the point of TSS was to equate things just like this? ie a 100 tss from a hard effort should approximate a 100 from a longer albeit easier effort?
Does anyone know how much as a guideline (in percentage) you should be increasing TSS per week AND how much to reduce per week for a recovery week if following a step1,step2, recov schedule for an IM? thanks